This is old news that I somehow missed a couple of weeks ago, but is worth mentioning in case you missed it, too. The Peoria Public Library is getting a new director. Edward M. Szynaka will take the reigns August 14 and earn $100,000 a year (I’m clearly in the wrong business).

Szynaka was fired as director of the Indianapolis-Marion Public Library three years ago, but Peoria library officials are satisfied that it was all political and not a reflection of Szynaka’s performance or abilities.

The new chief will have his work cut out for him here. The most recent statistical report that the library filed with City Hall shows 4% fewer people visited the city’s libraries between January and June this year than the same period in 2005. Despite the fewer visits, 5% more books are being checked out, thanks to the Bookmobile and the Lakeview branch (all other branches declined). Perhaps as a sign of the times, over 45,000 computer users have been signed up so far this year, up over 10% from this time last year.

The Journal Star reports that he oversaw a 30% increase in library usage while in Indianapolis. We’ll see if he can work the same magic here. I hope so. The library is such a wealth of information and invaluable resource to the community. I think a lot of people simply take it for granted. There’s a lot of information you won’t find on the internet, but is available at the public library.

I personally love the library and visit the downtown branch frequently, mostly because of all the reference materials they have — especially newspapers on microfilm, genealogical aids, and Peoria history archives. It’s a great place to check out movies and documentaries, too. I don’t contribute much to the circulation totals since you can’t check out reference materials, but I occasionally check out a book I want to read, but don’t want to buy.

Now that my daughter is learning to read, she has just started to discover the wonder of the library’s children’s department. You gotta love borrowing — if I had to buy all those books, I’d be broke and we wouldn’t have anyplace to keep them. Thanks to the library, she has hundreds of books at her reading level to choose from, and we just return them when she’s done. It helps her learn to read and my taxes pay for it whether we use it or not, so might as well use it!

The library has a new five-year strategic plan coming out soon. Hopefully, with Szynaka’s influence, it will be just the shot in the arm needed to draw people back to the library.